I am now a Daddy

From Birth

Yesterday was the most amazing day of my life, I became a father. At 8:50 am Louisa and I became parents to a baby girl. Weighing 6 lbs 15 oz, Bethany Priscilla Pang Vautour came into this world and stole our hearts. You always hear how amazing it is to witness the birth of your child, but there is no preparing for the emotion of it actually happening.

Everything went just fine. baby is healthy and both her and mom are doing fine. I on the other hand am in a lot of pain. I slept at the hospital last night so I could be there to help Louisa with the baby. I slept on a cot and when I first woke up this morning I was fine. But after breakfast I was helping Louisa with breast feeding and somehow I pulled a muscle in my lower back.

I was on so much pain. I couldn't sit up straight or stand up straight. When the nurse came into the room she looked at me and said "Are you ok?". "No" I said" "what is wrong?" "I can't move". They took me down to the Emergency Room. Turns out I pulled a muscle and have to take Advil and some prescription anti-inflammatory pills for a week. The worst part is the doctor told me not to lift anything. That includes taking the baby home in her car seat and the bags. And then to literally add insult to injury she said "People will think you are just a jerk making your wife carry everything"

I was very upset that I got hurt and this limits what I can do to help Louisa for the next week or so. We don't have any family in Ottawa which makes it a bit of a tougher pill to swallow. Luckily Louisa's mom is visiting for a while to help out. I will be adding the hospital bracelet that they game me in the Emergency Room to Bethany's baby book. I am sure this will make for a humorous story 10 years from now.

I came home to shower and upload some pictures from the hospital. I will be heading back to the hospital soon. Not sure if I will be sleeping there or coming back here tonight. Will figure that out later. I want to be there as much as I can but not if I am just in the way.

1 Year Wedding Anniversary

This past weekend marked Louisa and my one year wedding anniversary. And it was a pretty darn good weekend if I do say so myself. To kick things off we attended the wedding of friends of ours on Saturday. Same weekend (1 year later), same church, same time, even same priest. It was a bit surreal. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were the ones standing at the alter.

Next on our agenda was an overnight get away to Prince Edward County. When we went to drop Bee Bee off at the dog sitter there was no sign of her. After some quick thinking and thanks to the kindness of Barry and Annette we dropped Bee Bee off at Barry and Annette's house and we were on our way.

Since we didn't have any real time line we decided to stop off at Merrickville for Breakfast. Once we made it to Picton we spent some time walking through the shops on the main drag before checking in to our sleeping quarters.

Louisa had booked us a room at the Huff Estates Winery. We had a little trouble locating it though. We had printed off maps and directions but they were lost in the wind at a service station. We turned to the GPS and for once it failed us. It sent us on a wild goose chase and we became lost. Eventually we found our way and made it to the estate.

Before heading back to Ottawa we went for a nice romantic walk on the beach at Sandbanks Provincial Park. We also found a great bakery where we bought some fresh made bread and donuts and a pie.

It was a great trip. Very relaxing. It will also be the last trip that we will be able to go on before the baby comes. Next time we go somewhere we will have so much stuff to bring. This trip we only brought one carry on size suitcase between the two of us.

Update

I haven't written a blog entry in a while so I thought I would give an update on what is new.

Only a few days more before we get the new car. I am so excited. We are buying a red 2010 Toyota Matrix. So now we will have two vehicles which will be important once the baby comes and Louisa is on maternity leave. Plus when I have my meetings and activities for Scouts or Knights of Columbus I won't have to worry if Louisa needs the car.

Louisa and I have been talking about getting a filing cabinet for the basement. I have so many papers that it doesn't take long for the basement to look all messy. I am currently working with a 'pile' system. One pile for Scouting stuff, one for the Knights of Columbus, etc. A filing cabinet sure will be helpful.

My boss will be out of the office all week. He is going down to Las Vegas for a Trade Show. Originally I was supposed to go as well but that was before the company started to cut down on their travel budgets. Assistant Buyers are no longer eligible for International travel. Oh well.

I will be recertifing my first aid this week through work. Which is very convenient because my certification is due for renewal. The last time was paid for by my previous employer and now Costco will be paying.

Louisa is doing well with the pregnancy. She is either very happy and laughing or in discomfort due to her changing body. I want to celebrate Mothers Day but she doesn't seem to be big on the idea. She says she isn't a mother yet. Plus our wedding anniversary is the next weekend. We are planning on a overnighter a couple hours away to celebrate.

Jigsaw Puzzle

A little while before Christmas I suggested to Louisa that we buy a jigsaw puzzle and build it as a couple. It would be an activity that we can do together. She agreed that was a good idea. So for Christmas we each bought the other a jigsaw puzzle. So one Sunday night decided to give it a try. The first one we attempted is a 1000 piece puzzle of the Last Supper. Together we started with the border. We managed to get the border completed in an hour or so. That seemed like enough for the first day.

After that Louisa lost interest and I became addicted. I worked on that puzzle every night after work, and some mornings before work. I was able to finish the puzzle after just one week. I was so proud. I havn't worked on a jigsaw puzzle since I was a child. I had no idea it could be so fun. I have proudly used puzzle glue to keep my creation together and have mounted it on a piece of cardboard and will be proudly displaying it on the wall.

Do you like Jigsaw puzzles? When was the last time you did one?

Rock Climbing, Hockey and Perth

These past few days have been busy. Thursday Night was our Venturers meeting and we went indoor rock climbing. This is something I had never done before but the rest of them had done it many times. It was fun. I did two accents in total in two different areas of the gym. Half way up I was thinking "I can't do this" but somehow I made it to the top both times. My toes were really hurting. You have to wear very tight shoes so you can get a good grip on the holds. Louisa wants to try so we are going to go give it a shot some time.

Friday night Louisa and I went to the Ottawa Senators hockey game. They were playing Anaheim. The sens lost, they didn't really try until the third period. Even so it was nice to go to a game. Sure was different than watching on tv at home. I like to get to one game a year so I guess that will be it until next year.

Yesterday it was raining all day so we stayed at home most of the day. We did go to mass in the afternoon and there was a parish potluck afterward. Not a huge turn out, probably due to the rain.

Today we went for a day trip down to Perth, Ontario. Luckily the weather was nice. I took Louisa to Camp Opemikon where we had Rovent last weekend and we walked around the town. We had lunch at a great restaurant called GoodWood.

Tomorrow is my first day as an Assistant Buyer at Costco. Very happy to finally be starting my new position. I will be working with a great bunch of guys.

Merrickville

Last weekend I went to Merrickville with the Venturers as described in my last post. I was so taken by the little town that I decided to take Louisa there this weekend. Merrickville is only a 45 minute drive away from Barrhaven. Just take the 416 south as if you are going to Toronto and take the Kempville exit. Merrickville is along the Rideau river and part of the Rideau Canal. So if you were going by boat it will take you right to downtown Ottawa.

We arrived around 10:30 in the morning and didn't leave until after 4 in the afternoon. What a wonderful day we had. We had breakfast and The Goose And Gridiron. The food was real good and it cost almost nothing. The entire bill was around $11.00 for the two of us. There are much fancier places there if you want.

We spent the whole day walking down the main street (and a couple of side streets) looking in the all the cute shops. They have at least three glass blowing shops, Mrs. McGarrigle’s Mustard, and an assortment of artists gallery's and unique boutiques. We did buy a few things here and there but it was just fun looking at all the neat things they had. Many of the buildings are very old and the shops seemed to have endless rooms full of treasures.

In addition to shopping we walked across the bridge to explore the ruins and visit the foundry. We even watched they Parks Canada staff operate the locks to let a boat pass through. And to finish it all off we went into a candy & Ice Cream store and the air was filled with the most amazing smell. They make their own waffle comes fresh. I had an Apple Pie Ice Cream in a waffle cone. It had to have been the best tasting ice cream I have ever had, I have had a lot of ice cream in my life.

It was such a nice time to take this day trip with the changing of the leaves. We truly had a marvelous day. I recommend it to anyone in Ottawa who want to get away for a day trip without spending a fortune. They have some nice Inns and B&B's if you want to make a weekend out of it. And of course for the less pampered approach they have a campground right there along the canal.

Lawnmowers and shelving units

This sure has been an interesting week. First of all let me say that I am feeling great. I was limping on Monday and Tuesday but by Thursday I was playing Volleyball at the company picnic. Everyone was real concerned because I had an operation on my heart only a week earlier. But I felt fine and everything was good. I also placed first in the apple bobbing competition. hey, you got to be good at something right. Reminds me when I was in grade 3 and I won a pie eating competition at the local community center.

Louisa finally broke me down and we purchased an electric lawn mower this week. Last year when we moved in I insisted on getting an old fashioned push reel mower. It is a lot of work and takes forever but I was happy with it. Last weekend I was unable to cut the grass because of my operation. I was going to pay the neighbor's kid to cut it for me. Louisa decided she wanted to prove to me that she could do it, even though I didn't want her to. She practically killed herself but she got it done. She vowed that we would get an electric lawn mower. After much convincing we finally did by one at Canadian Tire.

We also went to Zellers and bought a 6 cube console for the kitchen. Louisa built it with my guidance. I interpreted the instructions and she did most of the assembly. So Louisa learned the joy of assembling furniture. We even had to disassemble it half way through because we put a couple pieces in upside down. All part of the experience. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't taken the time to do something like that together for some time.

Louisa and I spend so much time together we sometimes forget to take time to do simple things together. We commute together, we work together, we take break together, we eat lunch together... we are together almost 24/7. When we come home from work typically I spend the evening in the basement and she stays on the main floor. Sometimes I think we spend so much time together that we tend to take each other for granted. As a newly married couple I think it is important that we don't let that happen.

Last nights furniture assembly was a nice reminder that we need to take time to enjoy each others company. So tonight we are going to Carnivàle Lune Bleue. It is a 1930's style carnival that is in town complete with sideshows, a big-top main event, and authentic 1930's midway. I can't wait.

Louisa and I have been going through a lot of hard times since our wedding. There has been so much illness with us, friends, co-workers and loves ones. We are constantly worried about someones health and well-being. Our surgeries may be behind us but there are many people close to us who are not out of the woods yet. We pray for them daily.

Skating on the Canal

I was going to write an entry about Valentines Day but Louisa beat me to it. So if you want to read about our Valentines Day head over to Louisa's Wedding Blog.

So instead I will tell you about how we spent yesterday. We went to the 9:30 am mass at Blessed Sacrament after experimenting with different masses over the past few weeks. After mass we went skating on the canal. This is now our third year in a row for doing this during Winterlude. Neither of us are very good on skates but we seem to do a bit better each year. We skated all the way from Dowes Lake to Landsdowne park. Our feet were hurting so we put our boots back on and went for a walk down Bank street through the Glebe. Eventually we ended up back at Dowes Lake and went into Malone's for a drink.

We picked up a movie on the way home. I was so tired I actually took an impromtu nap on the couch while Louisa prepared a wonderful roast for dinner. After eating a very enjoyable meal we watched the movie together (after watching Big Brother of course). All in all we had a very pleasant day.

Michael Buble

Last night Louisa and I went to a Michael Buble concert. The tickets were one of the Christmas presents I gave her. People who know me well will not be surprised that I also enjoy his music. Although there were far more females in attendance I quite enjoyed the concert. Not all good singers make good entertainers, but Michael Buble sure is. He was funny and humble about his success. The best part of the concert though I must say was to see Louisa smile and enjoy herself. I had a great time and that is what I wanted more than anything else. With the stress of the pending wedding it was good that she could have a fun night out.